Lawmaker to introduce patient safety bill with error reporting requirement

Oct 23 2009

Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, will introduce legislation creating a mechanism "to monitor medical errors and have a mandatory reporting requirement" for hospitals and doctors that make mistakes, Modern Healthcare reports.

Braley said he is "disappointed that the White House has not made patient safety a priority." The legislation is based on the Institute of Medicine's "landmark report To Err is Human (which) estimated that medical errors cost the nation $17 billion to $29 billion every year, and that preventable errors kill 98,000 Americans annually" (Lubell, 10/21).